The following picture has been gaining a lot of attention around the internet. And I for one am no entirely sure it’s for the right reasons.
This “cute” 24 step guide (it’s a work in progress), written by two 2nd graders (8 year olds) on how to find love, is being shared around the internet and being hailed as “adorable”. And while I agree that the premise and some of the steps are beautifully naïve, something about some of those instructive steps disturb me. They disturb me a lot.
Ted Scheinman originally posted a picture of the “book” on Twitter, after his sister, who is a school teacher, shared the story of the two girls with him.
“My sister teaches languages at a school in the northeast and did not actually witness the composition of this masterpiece, but a colleague confides that the two girls (both second-graders) had finished their work about 12 minutes early and decided to write a “book” …” said Ted in an interview with The Awl.
1. First you stare at the person.
2. You get close to each other.
3. You ask for a date.
4. You go in bed and do sex
5. When you kiss you suck and lick
6. Get nacked [sic] in bed and do more sex.
7. (Blank)
8. Go dance and put your noses together.
9. (Blank)
10. Then kiss forever.
11. Take a shower together and kiss.
12. Give each other rings.
13. Go to the pool together.
14. – 24. (It’s a work in progress)
Steps 1 – 3 are fair enough, you stare at someone, you get closer to them and you get up the guts to ask them out on a date. Very much 8 year old logic. Actually, it’s very much the way it works at any age, with perhaps less obvious “staring” and more appropriate personal space boundaries.
Top Comments
I had read Judy Blume's "Forever" several times by the time I was 8 so could have easily written this myself at this age. I don't see the big deal.
Why was this share publicly in the first place! Very unprofessional of the teacher concerned to share it and the relative to share it on social media. It's up to the teacher to discuss the matter with the parents concerned.